Turkey’s assault on Syria continues as rebels seize battleground town
Kurdish fighters have warned securing ISIS prisoners is not their priority, as Turkish troops gain crucial territory in northeastern Syria.
World
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Kurdish fighters have warned securing ISIS prisoners was not their priority, as Turkish troops gained crucial territory in northeastern Syria.
Kurdish fighters have warned securing ISIS prisoners was not their priority, as Turkish troops gained crucial territory in northeastern Syria.
As the world condemnation grows against Turkey’s invasion of Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria, Germany and France have pledged to stop supplying them with weapons.
And Arab League nations demanded the military action stop immediately, as they worry about further conflict in the region that has been caught in a bloody civil war for eight years.
Kurdish majority Syrian Democratic Forces have control of more than 12,000 Islamic State prisoners across northeastern Syria.
But an SDF spokesman said on Sunday: “Securing ISIS detention centres and chasing sleeper cells is not our priority. We are solely focused on fighting Turkish aggression and protecting our people. (The) world can handle (the) ISIS issue if they really care about it.”
Turkey has claimed it has killed 429 Kurds, while losing four of its soldiers since fighting began on Wednesday after the United States withdrew troops from the region.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the numbers at 74 Kurdish-led SDF fighters killed since Wednesday as well as 49 Syrian opposition fighters backed by Turkey. That’s in addition to 38 civilians on the Syrian side.
Turkey has claimed it has taken control of Ras al-Ayn, a strategic border town.
The town would be a major victory in the widely condemned assault.
Turkey has invaded to create a 30km buffer zone, which it will use to dump millions of refugees just outside its border.
The Turkish Defence Ministry said: “Ras al-Ayn’s residential centre has been taken under control through the successful operations in the east of the Euphrates (River).”
It comes amid heightened fears that the invasion will lead to the rise of Islamic State. Kurdish soldiers were guarding 12,000 IS prisoners in jails in the area before the invasion but now may have to leave their posts.
Photographs seen by News Corp Australia show the devastation in Ras al-Ayn, with homes bombed and entire areas empty as thousands of refugees flee.
Many were seen walking out carrying whatever possessions they could, including a woman holding a baby as trucks and cars streamed by.
Amad, a refugee who fled Ras al-Ayn, said in a translated interview: “The war started at four in the morning. The occupying Turkish state fired mortars and artillery into our neighbourhood.”
He told the Rojava Information Center: “We were scared and we decided to leave because the children were scared. The city… died. I got out with my family and travelled her to Tel Temir.”
The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights confirmed it had seen Turkish troops in Ras al-Ayn.
Turkish forces were also converging on Tal Abyad last night, with air support from the Turkish military.
The Kurdish fighters, who have been abandoned by the United States, have limited defences.
Many do not have helmets or even basic first aid equipment, while Turkey has been blanket bombing the Kurdish controlled regions and were expected to follow in tanks.
Meanwhile, Islamic State terrorists claimed responsibility for a car bombing in northeastern Syria as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defied international calls to end its invasion.
Some of the Turkish bombings have also hit a prison where Islamic State prisoners were held, allowing five to escape, according to reports.
Thomas McClure spoke to News Corp Australia from Qamishli, a densely populated border town in Syria where an Islamic State sleeper cell detonated the car bomb.
Speaking with the sounds of Turkish shelling in the background, Mr McClure said: “ISIS claimed the bombing outside my favourite falafel shop and five ISIS detainees have escaped.
“You can hear the explosions just now, there are still cars going down the road but normally it would be full.
“Some of our neighbours are still here but quite a few have left.”
Mr Erdogan said overnight he “will not take a step back” until Kurdish fighters were pushed 30km back from the Turkish border.
The Turkish invasion was the latest blow for people living in Syria, with the civil war that started in 2011 claiming more than 400,000 lives.
The United States, which was given advance notice of the invasion, last night said it would hit Turkey with sanctions if it went too far.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said it was important that Turkey not allow a “single” IS fighter to escape.
The invasion came after US troops withdrew from the region, leaving Turkey free to attack the Kurds.
The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been displaced, with those numbers set to rise.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the operation could impact on efforts to defeat IS.
Mr Putin said he feared the captured IS fighters who have been until now held by the Syrian Kurdish militia “could just run away”.
He added: “We have to be aware of this and mobilise the resources of our intelligence to undercut this emerging tangible threat.”
Originally published as Turkey’s assault on Syria continues as rebels seize battleground town
‘Real threat’: Putin almost used nukes in Ukraine: US intel
The US stared down Vladimir Putin as the Russian president came shockingly close to using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine amid major battlefield losses, a new book claims.
Queen Mary’s dazzling Disney princess moment
Australian born Queen Mary drew comparisons to an iconic Disney ice queen when meeting the president of Iceland. See the pictures.